Featured Puppy - Nora

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Nora is a Standard Poodle from Port Moody, B.C.

Featured in 08, 2011

Nora's Story:

Over the last thirty years we have had a variety of dogs. They ranged from a shepherd to a small terrier. We read books and trained them on our own. We got through the puppy stages without injury but the house was usually a little worse for wear. Our welsh terrier was particularly trying since she didn’t care if you were holding a treat or not. Eventually, as with all our dogs, she was trained to sit and stay, that is, until there was a distraction. We got Nora, our standard poodle, last year.

We wereimpressed by the simplicityin which you never had to raise your voice and the only negative command we would use was “off".

She was smart, good looking, and knew it. She had energy to burn and mischievous ways. We were quickly re-introduced to jumping, lunging and mouthing. The mouthing was something that we quickly wanted to curb because mouthing to one person is biting to another. We decided this time we would try training a dog with the help of a professional trainer. We had met several dogs trained by Sit Happens and liked what we saw. We decided to give them a try. Several days later Sit Happens came by with Flirt and we got a demonstration of their system. We were impressed. Flirt was completely focussed on the trainer despite all those other distractions present. We were also impressed by the simplicity of system in which you never had to raise your voice and the only negative command we would use was “off”. We signed up, got two in-home lessons and the results were immediate.Nora didn’t stop jumping and mouthing but now we could stop when she did. She came when we called, she learned to walk to heel, and she learned the concept of the “place” command. After the in-house lesson we started signing up for the outdoor classes. They are scheduled throughout the week and one signs up on-line, particularly convenient for anyone who works shifts. Jeff is a positive and effective teacher leading us through exercises which engage both owner and dog. It’s all about creating distractions while controlling your dog.

It is evident when we attend classes that all the dogs participating are having just as much fun as are their owners.

Nora thoroughly loves the lessons and the attention, and what has emerged is a confident and controlled dog. It is evident when we attend classes that all the dogs participating are having just as much fun as are their owners. Nora is now 18 months old and we are walking her off-leash with complete control. She has learned all the basic commands either by voice or hand signal. She follows these commands whether close at hand or at a distance, whether standing still or in full flight. We are now taking agility lessons and she loves it. We are absolutely amazed at the progress.

Previously it took us years to get the basics commands right. Our only regret is we didn’t know about Sit Happens for our previous four dogs.